Official: Federal scrutiny of Ferguson to continue

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says it remains committed to reforming the questioned policing and court practices in Ferguson, Missouri, and will meet in coming weeks to discuss the next steps.

Vanita Gupta, the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil rights division, says in a statement that the division will continue to work with city leaders regardless of who's in charge to "address (Ferguson's) unconstitutional practices in a comprehensive manner."

Gupta didn't specifically address the resignation Wednesday of Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson in the wake of last week's scathing Justice Department report that accused the St. Louis suburb's police force and municipal court system of discriminatory practices.

That federal probe followed the shooting death last August of black 18-year-old Michael Brown by a white police officer.